Nagaland Border Affairs Advisor for maintaining cordial relations with neighbours
Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 3
Advisor for Border Affairs, Mhathung Yanthan called for maintaining cordial relations with the neighbouring states during a visit to Indisen and Rilan villages in Dimapur on January 3. The two villages, located on the western fringe of Dimapur bordering Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, have had bouts of borderland related tensions with the Assam Forest department in recent years.
The most recent was in December when the Assam Forest department issued eviction notice to vacate allegedly encroached portions of the Daldali Reserved Forest.
According to Yanthan, the two villages, unlike the more remote areas in the Disputed Area Belt, have the advantage of proximity to Dimapur city by virtue of which it gets quick governmental attention whenever there is tension. Nevertheless, he called upon the people living in the border villages to be cordial and alert at the same time to avoid untoward incidents.
Responding to queries from The Morung Express on the Nagaland state government’s stand on the recurring dispute in this particular stretch of the border, he maintained that as far as the claims between Assam and Nagaland are concerned, the matter lies with the Supreme Court. “The Disputed Area Belt (DAB) stretches from Niuland to Mon. We are contesting the Assam government’s claim that we have to follow the 1925 Boundary Line,” he said.
He maintained that the areas visited today are also part of the whole dispute and cannot be discounted.
Yanthan was accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur district and Commissioner of Police alongwith officials from the state Border Affairs Department.
According to the Border Affairs officials, the areas in the western fringe of Dimapur may not feature in the broader DAB “but it is covered by the 1979 Agreement (between Assam and Nagaland).” “The 1979 agreement covers all the areas from Niuland bordering Bokajan till Khelma in Peren,” the officials maintained.
The DAB, which runs from Niuland to Mon district also includes 10 Reserved Forests.
The dispute between the two neighbouring states being heard by the Supreme Court is currently said to be at the “evidence stage.”
